Hey,
Some more ideas.
1.) I would really like to see multi-tile ships. I hate that a starbase and base ship look no more massive than a dreadnaught or battleship (admittedly this varies from shipset to shipset). Multi tile ships would display just how massive these vessels would be and make formations much more important. It would go something like;
Escort to Light Cruiser - 1 tile
Cruiser-Dreadnaught - 2 tiles
Baseship and above - 4 tiles
I would use a similar scale for bases. Just imagine by the later stages of the game the mighty starships that would be roaming the starlanes. Movement and weapons would be difficult in a square based tactical map (HEXES PLEASE!!!). As for weapons, when desining these bigger ships you would decide what tile the specific componets are in. Those weaopns would fire with range from that tile, and the enemy could target a specific tile of a larger ship to get at certain compoents.
2.) I second the arch of fire idea. That you should decide what direction your weapons face. Maybe have different mounts like a turret that are more expensive but can fire in to adjacent directions. Would agian make formation and manuever important, as you could flank a ship to get into its defenseless side. I would do the same with shields, allowing a player to distribute its points around the ship as it sees fit. Reinforce the forward shields at the expense of the rear? Its up to you. Pax Imperia: Eminent Domain did this beautifly.
Picture of design screen
3.) that game also had 3D graphics, but limited them to a managable scale. I would much rather see beautiful 2d graphics than pigish 3D. Hope SEV doesn't follow the 3D hype if it can't be pulled off well.